Pharmacy team morale, or the lack of it, is dependent upon a meaningful, productive, fulfilling relationship between all staff and between pharmacists and management.

Satisfied pharmacy team members display visible signs that include cheerfulness, attentiveness to the needs of their customers and patients, a willingness to ‘go the extra mile’ and a positive attitude to those they encounter. Patients may comment on employee performance via satisfaction surveys such as the Community Pharmacy Patient Questionnaire (CPPQ) or by offering unsolicited letters or gifts. We’ve all seen examples of this over the past 18 months, although from time to time the collective patience of customers has worn thin. 

Issues such as increased absenteeism, conflicts with co-workers, insubordination, decreased productivity, disorganised and unkempt work environments, staff complaints about seemingly insignificant work-related issues or patient and customer complaints about an employee’s behaviour are all signs of low morale. You may recognise these. With low morale comes a high price tag.

Actively ‘disengaged’ employees cost businesses through absenteeism, illness and other problems that result when employees are unhappy at work. In these turbulent times, it is very easy for managers – who may feel even more overworked than those they manage – to take the view that people are lucky to have a job and ‘should just get on with it’.

In some respects, this approach may work in the short term, but over time, it has the potential to destroy morale, diminish productivity and cause staff retention issues. In turn, this will increase recruitment and training costs further down the line.